Current coronavirus figures for the country now stand at 3,447 confirmed cases with 85 deaths, as 14 more people passed away yesterday from Covid-19 related illness.

The fourth day of counting in the Seanad elections gets under way today with 33 of the 60 seats filled so far. Nineteen of those are sitting Senators, while seven are former TDs who lost their seats in the General Election. Three of the vocational panels and both university panels have been filled, with all six incumbent Senators keeping their seats on the Trinity and NUI panels. A fantastic new addition to the upper house includes SIPTU's Marie Sherlock who secured a seat on the labour panel last night.

Concerns have been raised that some childcare workers were laid off last month by employers who still had State subsidies in their bank accounts. While the National Lottery has agreed to have more than €16 million in unclaimed prize money transferred to the exchequer to help support Covid-19 health measures.

The Dublin-based medtech company Hibergene is working on a rapid diagnostic test for the virus and has secured funding of €1 million from the European Union for the project. The company’s “Hg nCoV 19” test project is expected to deliver results within 60 minutes. In related news, an urgent, call-out has been issued to Irish scientists to undertake critical research, development and innovation projects to support the national and global response to Covid-19.

One Aer Lingus pilot has spoken about being part of the team that's flying over and back from China, supplying Ireland with much needed PPE equipment. Michael Griffen said that with the short turnaround time, once they land in Beijing after a nine and a half hour flight over, "we’re not going to be getting off the aircraft so we will have two pilots fly out and two fly back, with one to help facilitate rest on board." 

Meanwhile, two students from Kinsale have been using their talents to print 3D masks which they plan to distribute as needed among local medical staff working on the frontline.

And finally, today's Zen is a Twitter thread about a little girl who discovered a door on the roof (her attic.) She was fascinated as to what might be up there so her dad planted a treasure chest with a map leading her to the key and recorded the whole experience. It'd just lift your heart watching her experience the magic of it all.